Pretoria: Bryandrew Roelofsz held off a strong challenge from his fellow South African CJ du Plessis to complete an impressive wire-to-victory at the South to East Challenge at Zwartkop Golf Club in Centurion, Pretoria, on Wednesday.
Starting the day one in front, Roelofsz closed with a two-under 69 to finish on 11 under and seal a one-shot win over Du Plessis, who carded a 68, in what was the first Mena Golf Tour event in South Africa. The event was co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Big Easy Tour.
Jaco Prinsloo finished third a further shot adrift, one ahead of Siphiwe Siphayi and Bryce Easton as the home nation made a clean sweep of the top five places.
England’s Haydn McCullen, who took a share of the lead on the opening day, returned a 68 to occupy solo sixth while the 2015 Mena Golf Tour’s Order of Merit champion Thriston Lawrence slipped to tied seventh after closing with a 73.
It was Roelofsz’s shot-by-shot game plan that capped an impressive week for the 24-year-old.
“Yeah, it was all up to the game plan really. It was one shot at a time and one hole at a time that got me through it,” he said after receiving the winner’s trophy.
“It was all about a good attitude, patience and calmness. Hopefully, next week we can do something nice and get another win,” Roelofsz added.
The week marked the start of three co-sanctioned events between the Sunshine Big Easy Tour and the Mena Tour, and Roelofsz believes it’s a brilliant platform to develop golf locally and abroad. “Having these co-sanctioned events is great for the Sunshine and Big Easy Tour guys as well as the Mena Tour guys. It’s a great platform that has been started and hopefully we can have many more events like this,” he explained.
Roelofsz also implemented a strategy of keeping his focus off the leaderboard, and it was only until his third shot on the par-five 18th he realised a par would give him the title.
“I actually didn’t know I needed par on the last. They actually told my caddie about it and I asked him what they said and he just told me to play my game. I saw the leaderboard behind the green and then knew I just had to chip and two-putt for the win,” Roelofsz said.
South Africa’s Sentanio Minnie took the honours in the amateur division on three under after closing with a solid 68 as Dwayne Basson, buoyed by a gust of good fortune, produced the highlight of the day, holing his tee shot on the par-3, 15th en route to a 69 for the only hole-in-one of the tournament.
The ace propelled Basson to tied 32nd on one-under in a four-man group, which included England’s Lee Corfield, a four-time winner on the Mena Golf Tour.
The Mena Golf Tour travels to Glendower Golf Club in Johannesburg next week for the Jo’burg City Masters to be held from June 13 to 15.
Multiple European Tour starts, including the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, the Hassan II Trophy and the Maybank Championship Malaysia, in addition to full playing privileges on the Sunshine Tour and exemptions into the Final Stage of the Asian Tour Q-School for the leading three professionals, are some of the added incentives for the Mena Golf Tour members.
